Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) announced his support for same-sex marriage on Monday even though he is Christian and believes in "traditional" marriage, the Washington Post reports.

Jolly said he believes it is "fully appropriate" for a state to recognize both gay marriages and opposite-sex marriages. When the Washington Post asked if he backs gay marriage, citing a Florida judge's decision to strike down the state's same-sex marriage ban last week, the Republican said he believes marriage should be between one man and one woman, but added states should not be defining the "sanctity" of marriage.

"As a matter of my Christian faith, I believe in traditional marriage," Jolly told the newspaper. "But as a matter of Constitutional principle I believe in a form of limited government that protects personal liberty. To me, that means that the sanctity of one's marriage should be defined by their faith and by their church, not by their state.

"Accordingly, I believe it is fully appropriate for a state to recognize both traditional marriage as well as same-sex marriage, and therefore I support the recent decision by a Monroe County Circuit Judge," Jolly added.

Last week Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia in Florida Keys ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutionaland refused Monday to allow same-sex couples to begin marrying in Monroe County, citing a pending appeal by the Florida's attorney general.

Comments

Thomas Cabaniss, 2014-07-25 16:40:29

What is about the one man and one woman business? From the so-called Christian aspect, any one who has been married more than once, has more than one spouse. I did not say it, the bible does. The only way one can marry again, is if the previous spouse dies. The hell what the law says, but God’s law says if one put away his spouse and marry another he or she commits adultery. So many people pick and choose what scripture to use for their purpose. Like the gay issue, in Leviticus 20: 9-14, people use verse 13 out of context and expound on it and blow it out of proportion which has to do about homosexuality and ignore what is before that verse and after it. Verse 9, death to people who curse their parents, verse 10, adultery, verse 11, incest and incest again in verse 14. So all the people who have been married more than once through divorce, preach to yourselves and leave us gays alone.

After legislation that would prohibit most cases of LGBT workplace discrimination witnessed an exodus of support from several major LGBT-rights groups earlier this week, Republican backers vowed to push forward.